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Zaheer Khan showed how important he was to the Indian attack by removing both openers on the second morning in Durban as India fought back after a ruthless performance from South Africa's quicks. The fortuitous run-out of Jacques Kallis boosted them further, before a hitherto off-colour Sreesanth produced a jaffa to remove the in-form AB de Villiers.
On the first day, the track had plenty of juice making life difficult for the Indian batsmen, but with the sun shining on the second day, they expected an easier time - only for eight wickets to fall for 96 runs before lunch. The first four of those were the Indian tail-enders, which didn't tilt the game's balance much, but the remaining were South African top-order dismissals which helped India level the match.
Zaheer was accurate, extracting movement and frequently mouthing off at the batsmen. He had little support though, with Sreesanth wasting the new ball by regularly bowling down the leg. Zaheer stuck at it, and was rewarded with the wicket of Graeme Smith - for the 10th time in Tests - as a leaden-footed prod ended in MS Dhoni's gloves.
Alviro Petersen had begun fluently, dining on the freebies from Sreesanth, but like other batsmen in this match, he too didn't convert his start. On 24, he walked across to a Zaheer delivery and looked to work it towards the leg-side but the ball deflected onto the leg stump off his pad.
If there were any worries in the South African camp, they were doused by the soothing sight of Hashim Amla, continuing to be in supreme form, highlighted by a backfoot cover drive off Ishant Sharma. Kallis had also picked up a couple of early boundaries, and with ten minutes to lunch South Africa were looking good to end the session without further casualties.
That wasn't to be, though, as Ishant half-fielded a drive from Amla, the ball was parried onto the stumps at the non-striker's end, catching a diving Kallis short. Worse followed for South Africa, when de Villiers was taken out by a ripper from Sreesanth, bouncing sharply and cutting away to surprise the batsman, who thumbed it to the keeper.
India's batsmen had struggled as well earlier on. Much depended on the overnight pair of Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni but neither inspired much confidence: Harbhajan was reprieved at second slip by Kallis in the second over of the day, and Dhoni was worked over by Steyn in the next. Harbhajan kept prodding at deliveries outside off, and was dismissed soon after, snaffled brilliantly by de Villiers at third slip. Zaheer followed, stuck on the crease to a full ball and nicking it to the keeper.
Dhoni decided to go after the bowling, smashing Steyn for a six over long-off, one ball after top-edging an attempted pull over the keeper. The counterattack was brief as he holed out to sweeper cover for 35 to give Steyn his sixth wicket of the innings. Two deliveries later, Sreesanth picked up a golden duck, a wild swing swirling high and landing in Mark Boucher's gloves.- Cricinfo
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